Committee to summon Wang Jin-pyng as witness

Staff writer, with CNA

The Ministry of Justice’s Prosecutor Evaluation Committee said it has decided to summon Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and Democratic Progressive Party caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) for questioning as witnesses in an investigation into alleged prosecutor misconduct.

Wang and Ker will be asked to answer questions by the evaluation committee on Nov. 3, Peng Wen-cheng (彭文正) said.

The committee, consisting of eight members, made the decision at a meeting earlier in the day while discussing two high-profile cases involving allegations of influence peddling, leaks of confidential information and illegal wiretapping.

They involve Prosecutor-General Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘) and two prosecutors serving at the Special Investigation Division (SID) that Huang supervises, as well as Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office head prosecutor Chen Shou-huang (陳守煌) and prosecutor Lin Shiow-tao (林秀濤).

Huang and the two SID prosecutors were found by an independent ministry investigation panel to have improperly leaked secret information to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and mistakenly wiretapped the Legislative Yuan earlier this year as the SID was investigating Ker.

Chen and Lin allegedly responded to improper lobbying from Wang and decided not to ask for a retrial in a breach of trust case in which Ker was the defendant.

Ker was found not guilty by the High Court and guilty in previous trials. Prosecutors in Taiwan can appeal not guilty verdicts.

The exposure of the cases and the alleged abuses triggered a political battle between Ma and Wang and also sparked public fears of the overuse or misuse of wiretapping to gather evidence in criminal cases.

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